Stridey

I fitted the buzzer, although it comes with lots of stuff to fix wires I used two double blade crimps on the red wires and earthed it to to screw of the switch so it’s earthed to the dash. The unit is now in behind my knee panel so easy to get to. I found it works well on 15 or so flashes then beep. Adjusting it seems a little finicky, but they supply the screw driver too. The twin blades allow you to just unplug and piggyback the wires to the switch left and right. The small box has a lid, you adjust timer by the screw on the blue area. If you over adjust turning the screw anti clockwise 15 times gets it back to the small delay setting.

Big Col, Mark_w, cheers for the heads up about that buzzer which comes on after a set time. Sounds ideal. (I don’t want a buzzer all the time) Just this week I followed a tin top who had left their indicator on and I cringed at every side road they sailed past. None of us are perfect and this might just prevent me from causing an accident. Ordered. Will report back.

The NGK link you give above is interesting, but leaves out the idea of measuring length of cables and using division to compare the resistance of each lead to (hopefully) give a similar figure for all four, thus detecting a problem. Thanks to you JK i'm realising how useful a multimeter is to have. And learning some the functions beuond voltage readings. Just being able to test a wire for continuity with a beep is jolly useful!

I tested my old suspicious set, along with the new custom 'premium' Retro Leads set and also a set of off the shelf ones from an early Ford Ka (my Crossflow has electronic ignition) the results were all different, but not perceptible on the road, to me at least. I put it in the nice to check perhaps in the spring before a service category.

A multimeter can measure resistance. A simple calculation of that figure divided by length means you can at least work out if ones duff compared to the others. I did this after changing spark plugs and feeling one cable plug seemed to go on too easily. At least it proves to me I did need a new lead, before any real probs occurred.

I think correct tightness will of course reduce sag, though as a ‘96 thin roll bar I think it’s always going to be low...and I’m usually flustered as I leave it to the last moment to put it up. I had thought of raising height by using the forward full hood hoop but that’s too wide... i drive to Bruxelles a few times a year, and have endured 2 hours rain UK side and 2 hours continental side... if I can make it as comfortable as possible I will... but no desire for a full hood. I might try it sometime... meanwhile, here is an ‘L’ shape end for JK... electrical ring end in rubber riv nut.

ill see how it goes... the telescope effect join is quite stiff when extended (fnarrrr fnarrr)... i have a plan to maybe fashion a dowl to present a flat edge to the screen, but as the screen edge is tipped back a few degrees and that the tube diameter is approx 10mm anyway I think it may not be needed. What I did do is bung up the end with a rubber rivnut, so I may put a washer on the end with a flat top edge cut to lower the profile but give the bottom edge a small lip to grab the edge. That's the 'L' I think you mean?

My Soft Bits has the felt flap/ridge affair.

Thanks for the suggestion. I may glue a small material patch there, even a loop too. Cheaper than buying a Westfield. Though probably similar smell.

Friction! The hood just gently presses down on it. I may add a bit of handle bar tape when I find some, just to wrap that last inch of tip

I have an old style roll over bar, and a half hood, that even after tightening up is a little low and susceptible to ‘droop’. This can on occasion touch my head when buffetted at speed. I came up with a little solution, lightweight, cheap and collapsible to fit in boot. It uses two rods bought from Decathalon at under £5. https://www.decathlon.co.uk/lakeside-1-travel-300-id_8324377.html. Two spring clips. Take two lengths of rod from the middle. After cutting a slot and bolting the spring clip to a length from the rod you cut down a second length to fit the spread from bar to screen. i wrapped string round the clip just to secure the clip even more. I also put a bung into the screen end.

The back of my dash needs a polish. Then the inside of my roll bar.

The back of my dash needs a polish. Then the inside of my roll bar.

Have you tried checkec wires at alternator and starter motor, It's very exposed down there, to water, I bought a proper plug to protect the wires (on my alternator there was a clip to hold the plug in place, but car came with no plug.) its perhaps worth a check, only because you mentioned washing the car before tucking away.

Quick tip. Have glue/pads ready for putting back your mirror. fwiw I had a surround metal polished from the grey to mirror finish very reasonably with the stanchions. I used soapy liquid to ease it all back. Removing the rubber surround I put it in a big bowl of soapy water to see if I could rejuvenate it a bit whilst the surround was away. its worth trying 'wanted' section for surrounds, as some insurance replacements replace the whole thing, that's how I got mine from a member who cleverly kept his smashed screen, and surround.

Ok, its not round. (spotted on my circular walk around London)

I have wondered similar. However, I think living London, where it's all streetlighted, the window of opportunity for using sidelights is bigge / longer than the sticks. It's less dazzling for oncoming vehicles, obviously. But I guess it does depend on how dark it really is... and I understand the 'all or nothing' argument. Its a courtesy when pulled up to the side to come off dipped, to stop dazzle perhaps while waiting for someone. One thing side lights do is give backup to a single main bulb. (I do carry spare bulbs as a matter of course, part of my travel kit). This backup means you can get home safe to replace a main bulb. And the little known law to use sidelights when parked on any road with a more than 30mph speed limit. But honestly, who knew that law and has anyone in living memory been done by it? The good thing about sidelights is that the rears light up too. I have a car with DRLs that doesn't light up the rears and as I've said, in city driving it's easy for it to get dark and forget about lights. I've done it. ...so I'll accept the 'moron' comment with good grace!

Would the make of lens make any difference in spread and beam efficiency? And perhaps new orientation/angle adjustment of the headlamps may be needed? I have 7" Cibie lenses and they seem fine for oncoming traffic. I did take care to orientate the bulbs correctly at 90° as they have led panels on the opposing faces. when you separate the parts for fixing it's easy to not push them back together at the correct angle, If that makes sense. I had no flickering (yet) from my Amazon bought main bulbs and the side light replacement bulbs from Classic Car Leds seem fine. I also did rear red brake Leds, The indicators and side repeaters I've left alone.

Here is a link. There are cheaper versions but this is a uk seller who seems to know his onions. I got rear red brake bulbs from there too. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F182772004130

after recently upgrading headlights to led, I was more aware that the sidelights were very dull (and yellowish), so upgraded with ‘Classic Car LEDs’ . Stopped 1/2 way for an amateur comparison, just for reference. Very happy with upgrade for the dull evenings coming.

Thought I'd sorted one. Ideally metal plate with reflectors and bulb holders, long metal bolts, bronze imperial kind. If not, stainless bolt kind acceptable.

It works both ways Sinbad... you've just confirmed that the bullet shaped ones don't have a great field of view. (I was interested in those for a vintage look at one point) The convex on the Kiwav seems more pronounced at one end of the lens so actually gives a really nice view of the car wing, but also a non distorted view of the rear/outwards away from the car. im particularly happy with the passenger side view, it allows me to see the kerb, but also directly backwards, supplementing the rear view mirror. If you go this route I hope you get the angles working for you too.

I just just took some more pics, so you can perhaps judge how they look with the ball joint extensions. You 'may' be able to create the same tilt needed to see better by drilling out at the joint behind the mirror itself, but for my height and seat arrangement I needed to just bring them out a bit more hence using the ball joint, fixed in place with JB Weld. Although that joint is fixed, you still have adjustment for rotation and angle with the mirror head itself.

Sinbad, yes those are them and the inline ball joints too. Quite a complex shape on the mirrors but I'm impressed with the viewing angle now I've used them for a few days. i also needed 2x m8 30mm studs to screw into the ball stud and then the mirror base. You'll need to loctite the joints too, to stop them drooping at motorway speeds. To drill out the stanchion I used a stepped bit.

I tried the Pitking style mirrors. Ok Advantages were the great price and easy to fit on stanchion. Disadavantages: flat glass and small size meant I really couldn't see anything, huge blind spot as cars pass on motorway. I like to have a bit of my car viewable in the mirror, just a hint of rear wing for reference, so I decided to try mirrors with a convex shape. I settled on these: Kiwav on eBay. I bought from the U.K. Seller To fit I had to just enlarge one of the holes on the lower hinge to 8mm and the plastic hinge. I found I couldn't quite adjust the kerbside mirror enough so bought two in line 8mm joints from SGS engineering, These allow enough adjustment to get into exactly the right place. Then I put a dab of JB weld into the joint to fix it solid. I used an 8mm stud through the hinge/stanchion hole and a bolt the other side to fix in place. A little dab of loctite on the threads stop it undoing in the wind on motorway runs. The blue glass tint is really light and they are available in black. i find the convex lens excellent, proper viewing angles and so much safer on the motorway. The kerbside mirror is really great now too.